IMPORTANT: Ixalan Cards and Events - Balancing and Thoughts

Magic: The Gathering - Puzzle Quest MtGPQ General Discussion
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Table of contents:

1.) Initial thoughts and introduction

2.) The cards and how they might work in conjunction with the events

3.) Conclusion about the cards and events

1.) Initial thoughts and introduction

Like most of the people who are playing this game, I was very excited by the news of Ixalan’s upcoming release, and keyed into each of the blog posts, eagerly awaiting news and spoilers of what to expect from Oktagon’s first set. Following the first blog post and the cards spoiled along with it, I was left feeling unexcited for any of the spoiled cards, and figured that the spoiled cards were just examples of what was to come mechanically, but weren’t examples of “chase cards”. Each day, I excitedly read the new blog post, and each day I was left hoping that the next day’s post would spoil a card that would stoke my excitement for Ixalan’s release in MTGPQ. When the full spoiler of the set was released, I was completely unimpressed with the set. There weren’t any cards that I felt excited to build a deck around, and while there were cards that seemed like they could be interesting, they all seemed to be severely lacking in power and overwhelmingly expensive in mana cost. I couldn’t see a reason to include almost any of the new cards in a deck that I would put into an event that didn’t force me to use one of the new keywords or tribes. For that matter, given the other sets that are available for us to use in “Standard” it seems difficult to justify using many of the new cards over seemingly cheaper, and better versions of those cards. It wasn’t until I read the Elite Collection spoiler that I felt excited to build around some of the new cards. I had a fun discussion in my Coalition’s chat about how we could make some potentially interesting decks around Knight of the Reliquary and Magus of the Moon or with Sanguine Bond and Swords to Plowshares, but lets face it, only a handful of people in the world will actually get their hands on both of the cards in either of the pairs because they are from the Elite Collection. Given that what was spoiled is what we are going to get, I decided to take a few more looks through the set to try and find some potential decks that would be fun to play and feel powerful. In the end I found a few things that I think could potentially be interesting, and after having the opportunity to sleep on it, I was able to put my thoughts together and I have some insight that I think will be helpful for you to think about going forward given what we are going to be getting. Spoiler alert, I think you might find yourself enjoying Ixalan in MTGPQ more than you are currently expecting.

2.) The cards and how they might work in conjunction with the events

The new mechanics look like they could be both fun and powerful if placed in the right deck with enough synergy and the right pieces. When I initially looked through the spoiler of the set, I did not see enough cards that enabled the new mechanics, but after further inspection of the events, I changed my mind. The mana costs of many of the cards are significantly above what I would expect for the power level of the abilities on the cards, but the way that the upcoming Ixalan events were constructed will maybe shine a new light on the current perspective of the cards. I am going to copy pieces of the blog post and then dissect elements of it to explain how I envision things will play out for us. While you go through the snippets below, please think about the impact that the event modifiers could have on the progression of a match. It could potentially bring up memories of 2x mana or enrage for 2x damage. The new events may change gameplay in a very new and exciting way.

Treasure Hunt – Treasure Node (Normal Difficulty)
In the Treasure Hunt node, starting on turn 3, players will find a Treasure every 3 turns. Since players will be getting Treasures every 3 turns, you will have access to more mana as the game goes on.

Exploring the Wilderness – Explore Node (Hard Difficulty)
In this node, starting on turn 3, your first creature will Explore at the start of every turn, while your opponent’s creature will Explore slightly more.

Enraged Wildfire – Enrage Node (Epic Difficulty)
Here, at the beginning of each turn past the third, your creatures will get an ability that triggers whenever they take damage. The order for the abilities are:
-Get a power/toughness boost.
-Deal damage to the opposing Planeswalker.
-Gain life.

Raid and Plunder – Raid Node (Legendary Difficulty)
In this challenging and aggressive node, each creature you control, starting on turn 3, will always:
-Make the opponent lose life.
-Destroy gems of your opponent Planeswalker’s colors.
-Give mana to a random spell in your hand.

Okay, so if you look at the above events for the Across Ixalan - PVP Standard event, most of the nodes have a modifier that will be increasing your mana gains. We are comparing the abilities of the upcoming cards to cards from previous sets, and to how they will work without these new modifiers that are going to be part of the events. If you look at the Ixalan set as it is currently spoiled, it is seemingly a lot weaker than many of the previous sets, especially due to the high mana costs for the cards. The thing to keep in mind is that we are looking at this set without how it will interact with the modifiers in the upcoming events. I am still hopeful that the mana balance and tuning is in part due to the effects of the upcoming events and how the modifiers for those events will impact the game. Sure, it will be tempting to continue to use some of the old powerhouses like Hazoret’s Undying Fury with mechanics that are going to give us more mana to play with, but it will also likely make it so the new cards and their mana costs aren’t as crippling as they seem at first glance. If you took part in the recent Holiday events, you may have had a mana curve in your decks that was higher than what you would usually use due to the 2x mana bonus. It is very possible that the events here will inspire the same sort of play with the new cards. Try not to knock the set until you have tried it with all of the new mechanics and modifiers in mind. This is coming from someone who like many of you was not impressed at first glance.

For the next event, we are getting a Standard PVP Coalition event. It’s nodes will also have modifiers that will impact the flow of the game. I will once again post the relevant snippets from the blog post and then dissect them.

Clash of Waves and Cannons – Blue Node

This node centers around the conflict between the Brazen Coalition and the Shapers. In this node, all your Pirates will get a passive power buff and will strengthen your supports, while weakening your opponent’s whenever they come into play. Your Merfolk, however, are Unblockable and get a power/toughness buff until end of turn, whenever you cast a spell. A special rule that affects both players is that they both draw extra cards each turn.

Through Fasts and High Waters – Black Node

This node is built around the encounters between the Dusk Legion and the Brazen Coalition. Here, all your Vampires gain Flying and get stronger whenever an opponent takes damage in a turn. Your Pirates will get a passive power buff and weaken your opponent’s last reinforced creature before they die. A special rule that affects both players is that they both lose life at the beginning of their turn (this won’t trigger the Vampire’s getting stronger).

Visions of Glory and Gold – Red Node

This node reflects the conflict between the Sun Empire and the Brazen Coalition. In this node, for as long as you control a Human, your Dinosaurs will cost less… and your Dinosaurs will deal damage to your opponent’s last creature as they enter the battlefield. Pirates here have Haste and find Treasures whenever they attack. The special rule that affects both players is that they both draw an extra card at the beginning of their turn and discard a card at the end of the turn.

Blessings of Rivers and Jungles – Green Node

This revolves around the battles between the Shapers and the Sun Empire. Merfolk here get a passive buff and increase the cost of cards in your opponent’s hands when entering the battlefield. Dinosaurs also get a passive buff and if you control a Human, they also get the Regenerate ability. This node’s special rule that affects both players is: Converting gems to that player’s Planeswalker colors.

War of Sun and Dusk – White Node

This one focuses on the war between the Sun Empire and the Dusk Legion. Here, if a player gains life and they controls a Vampire, a Token Creature that player controls get reinforced. Also, Vampires have Vigilance. Dinosaurs here have a passive toughness buff. Also, while a player controls a Dinosaur, their Humans have First Strike. The special rule for this node that affects both players is a way to get around all these pesky defensive keywords: “Activate 1: Disable your opponent’s first creature until the start of your next turn.”

This event seems like a glorified Nodes of Power event, but if you look at how the nodes will impact the games, they add a little extra something something to some of the cards and how they will interact with the mechanics of the set.

My complaint for many of the new supports is that they lose shields every turn as part of their ability, but the Blue Node seems like it may also strengthen the shields on those supports, which will in turn make them significantly more viable. Additionally, the Merfolk getting a power boost for every spell you cast would go very nicely with a blue/green Kiora deck that could chain spells. It could make that node really fun, and with green conversion, the mana wouldn’t be a major issue.

There is a lot of lifelink amongst the vampies and with the Black Node causing both players to lose life, it will enable you to be at a distinct advantage. Additionally, a lot of the vampires have abilities around token generation and reinforced creatures. Keep in mind that each stack on your tokens counts as a reinforced creature. If you manage to create an army of vampire tokens, you could use them in conjunction with the cards that have effects around reinforced vampires. Pirates still honestly don’t look too good here.

After going through the Red cards, specifically the red pirates, I felt like there was a lot of potential around maximizing power from treasure, but there weren’t enough ways to generate treasure. The Red Node enables your pirates to generate treasure each time they attack. This will also help with mana gains for those higher cost cards. The Dinosaur’s weakness lies in their mana costs, which means that you won’t have the mana to cast the Dinosaurs and removal reliably. With this node enabling your Dinosaurs to kill an opponent’s creature on cast, it takes a big negative away from the behemoths.

The Green Node looks like it could be pretty nasty in conjunction with Merfolk, but the Dinosaurs seem to come up short here.

The White Node looks strong for Vampires for the reasons I listed in the Black Node, and the Dinosaurs seem a bit on the underwhelming side here.

3.) Conclusion about the cards and events:

In conclusion, I think that Ixalan actually looks very dynamic with a lot of possibility to be new and engaging in ways that the game was not before. It could very well add the fresh type of twist we have been asking for these past few months. We are used to events being very vanilla, with matching gems and playing cards being the main foundational mechanic behind the gameplay, with a few objectives fueling the specifics of our deckbuilding. With Ixalan, the events themselves are adding new mechanics to the way the game will be played, and as a result, the cards likely needed to be balanced to reflect how the game will change with Ixalan’s events. If you are playing the new events with the proper cards in the proper nodes, you will be rewarded for playing the event as it has been intended and you will be given a more dynamic play experience where there are more factors to keep the game exciting, different, and challenging aside from just matching and playing cards for power alone. If you play using older cards, you will have the power boost of those cards, but they will not give you the rewards from boosts that you would get for playing Ixalan cards, which would likely balance the power a bit between other Standard sets and Ixalan. The removal in this set seems to be pretty good for it’s mana cost, so the biggest potential issue is in it’s creatures and big spells. If you read the entirety of my post, you would see that the mana costs will likely be less of an issue if you are playing the events as they were designed to be played. I have read many posts here about people wishing the developers would make it so that people were more strongly encouraged to follow event objectives. The new Ixalan events and the design of the set pushes players very strongly to play the event as it was designed to be played with the new cards and mechanics. This should add more variety to matchmaking and the decks you both play and face, which should make the game more exciting. Additionally, there are still some chase cards in Ixalan that we will be able to use in “Legacy” events that will be very powerful. We only use a select few of the cards from each block when we make “Legacy” decks anyways. In summation, I implore you to first see how the new cards will interact with the new way that events will work before you establish a conclusion as to wether on not Ixalan in MTGPQ is a success or a failure. The game is changing, and we cannot hold the same expectations we have had for previous cards to this new, changed set. Give the set a chance.

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Bravo! Thank you! I was getting tired of the unjustified ranting and knocking of a set that has yet to appear in play. So much pessimism and no serious view on how thing CAN work to make the game fun.

Thank you for posting this and shedding some light and the future fun that will come of Ixalan’s arrival!

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Again, all this sounds great if Ixalan were the only set being used in these events. The fact that Standard will continue to include previous sets with the broken cards means the changes made to Ixalan cause the set to be underwhelming when compared against other sets in Standard. Either fix the old cards or break off Ixalan-forward as the new Standard.

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That could potentially be true, but given the rewards built into the events that you will get for having cards of the particular tribes on the battlefield, the power of those cards could be equal to or greater than those of the other Standard cards. Until we have played the events, we will not know how the new event mechanics will impact the power of the cards. If you think about it, in the Blue Node for the coalition event EVERY Merfolk creature GAINS the ability to power up on EACH spell you cast. If you recall the old Baral + Noyan Dar loop decks, that ability can be very powerful in the right hands, and if you have that ability on each of your creatuers, that could be very powerful indeed. More so than some older standard mythic beasties like Angel of Invention, Metalwork Colossus, Lightning Runner, etc.

5

I don’t know that I will play many of these cards outside the Ixalan events yet, but they could still be very exciting within the events, which is where most of the game is played (for many players). Another thing to consider is that we will also be getting another set in this block. There is another Ixalan set in Rivals of Ixalan that will be released and add more cards to the tribes and more cards with the mechanics to get the competitive juices flowing. My ultimate point is that I think we are looking at this upcoming set using what will become outdated expectations given how they are looking to change the game. Give it a chance, and if you still don’t like it, then give more feedback.

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Thanks a lot for highlighting this point on the new events’ mechanisms. This is really an exciting point.
I think they did a real mistake keeping KLD block into Standard, for the reasons Corn Noodles highlighted. But if the new events can push us to use more Ixalan cards with new games interactions that could be really great!

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The Kaladesh block has some of the most powerful cards in existence right now. Cards like Lightning Runner, Angel of Invention, Metalwork Colossus, Gonti’s Aether Heart, Combustion Gearhulk, Whir of Invention (thanks to Omniscience), Insidious Will, Rishkar’s Expertise, Baral, Rashmi, Boomship, Heart of Kiran, and to a lesser extent Marionette Master, Architect of the Untamed, Herald of Anguish, Aetherworks Marvel, etc. That I can name so many cards off the top of my head shows the power of the set, but I still think that within the events we are being given that there will be a very compelling reason to use the new cards and they will be able to rival Kaladesh’s cards in power within the events. Keep in mind that half of the cards I just listed are also from Aether Revolt. We are only getting half of the block’s cards here.

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Most of Ixalan cards don’t lend themselves to the immediate gratification of obvious bombs that will replace slots in decks we currently play. A lot of the problem is we have been playing with these current cards “too long” and many of us have most or all of the mythics. Like the OP I support the devs in treading new paths with the “creative events” that we have been requesting.

I believe that paper Magic may have died out without the addition of limited formats like draft and sealed deck. It changed the power curve focus and made even the common cards extremely relevant. I think that this game should move in that direction as well. The cards can get only so powerful until eventually we are only impressed casting the first turn “I win” card.

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Agree with OP. I’m optimistic that these events will make it very worthwhile to play with the new cards.

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I agree that they won’t likely replace slots in decks we are currently playing, but that is okay. The game looks like it will be different with the new events. Each block, we should be using new decks instead of just modifying what we are currently using. If we just use a different version of the same deck over and over, we will likely get tired of the game. We are being pushed to use new decks instead of just gravitating to the same old tried and true.

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Additionally, I think the events adding abilities to creatures and creating new gameplay mechanics will make them more engaging and make the use of the newer cards more exciting.

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I don’t want to be too negative but I think Arcane Adaption is going to break every node in this event. It’s going to be the new New Perspectives. If you have it, you will play blue and include it in every node.

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@Nalthazar thank you for taking the time and giving us this perspective. I know it’s given me a lot to look forward to.

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And I am looking forward to the crazy that the new events are going to be!

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I do really appreciate the great amount of thought put into the above thoughts. I really do mean that.

Having said that though. I disagree with your reasoning, almost 100 %.

Absolutely everything above makes complete sense in the context that it was given. However, in my opinion that context has absolutely nothing to do with the game of magic.

Paper magic sets are not created to be played in a vacuum outside of all other sets. That would just be silly. The only time that occurs is during the sealed drafts when the new sets come out.

I don’t know how much paper magic you play, but even at the latest grand prix in modern, there are absolutely no decks in the meta that would play like this current release we are getting.

Nothing is this slow or set dependant. Not even in standard. This may not be paper magic but it’s still supposed to be mtg and should still follow the baseline ideals of the game.

The fact that the only way this set is playable is in a closed environment that requires the use of it’s mechanics for secondary objectives is really all the proof needed that it’s poorly designed.

If you can’t use these cards in a standard environment to beat Greg playing my pq versions of standard burn or storm or even a pure origins deck at least 50% of the time than the set isn’t designed properly.

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I am hopeful they are smart enough to let Greg play the decks that match the boosts for the node. Otherwise…

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The cards are poorly designed and thats a fact. The event design seems interesting but I have to disagree, the cards still suck. And because people keep bringing up the argument “if the other sets were at the same level…”. Just stop it.

The thought of Octagon giving the other sets the same treatment as Ixalan makes me afraid for the future of the game because looking at the new cards doesn’t induce much confidence in their card designing skills. I don’t trust them “balancing” the old cards.

Dont touch the old cards Octagon before you fix this mess of a new set.

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You bring up some good points and counterarguments to what I posted. I have played a great deal of paper Magic, and I ultimately moved over to this game so that I could play Magic without the sticker price that it takes to stay current in the game these days. Given that, I have a few responses, and I would be interested to hear what you have to say about my responses. Before I start though, I think it is important that I say that I still feel like the set looks like a generally weak set compared to Kaladesh and Innistrad. Honestly, outside of cycling I felt that Amonkhet was a weak block, and the objectives of the events made it so that players were strongly driven to play cycling if they wanted to earn 100% scores in all of the events. There are a few very powerful cards from the block like Omniscience, Hazoret’s Undying Fury, Hour of Devastation, Sandwurm Convergence, Angel of Sanctions, the Gideon supports and a few others, but as a whole, I was disappointed by the block. The one redeeming factor of the Amonkhet block in my mind was the usefulness of many of the common and uncommon cards. It made the game more accessible to newer players in my mind. Anyways though, I digress, on with my response.

1.) I am hoping that this set isn’t only going to be useful within the events that it is scheduled to have. My hope is that with the introduction of the second set, Rivals of Ixalan, that it will provide us with enough cards to bridge the gap that the events are going to require in making the set work. There are a number of interesting looking decks that can be built using the cards that will be available in Ixalan. They won’t be as powerful on their own as many of the cards one uses in a Legacy deck, but I think we will still be able to find some useful staples to put into many of the “meta” decks. Cards like Hostage Taker, which could be an interesting addition to an Ob Nixilis deck, River’s Rebuke, which can slot into just about any blue deck, Sorcerous Spyglass could be nice in an Omni + Starfield support deck, Tishana Voice of Thunder will be a nice addition to standard Omni decks, and others among them. As a whole the cost of the cards in the set are high, and many of the commons and uncommons look unplayable, which means that the set will cater more to players who have been playing the game for a longer period of time and who have been saving their resources for the release of this set or people who are willing to pay for new cards. The developers have to make money somehow. I think that it is important in both paper Magic and in this game to look at a block as a whole before judging the sets. Sometimes the subsequent sets in the block will bring out new features of the initial cards that make them better. I wasn’t the biggest fan of energize in this game until Aether Revolt came out. Some of that was due to the cards in my collection, but many of the cards in Aether Revolt made the energize cards in Kaladesh become incredibly powerful.

2.) This game takes after paper Magic, but is not paper Magic. We do not have instant speed abilities, mana has an element of RNG to it each turn, card advantage is hardly something you need to worry about, your opponent’s deck is never played with the cunning of a real person, and we get bonus abilities that we get to use for gathering mana for our planeswalkers. I would argue that while this game is founded on the paper version of Magic, it fundamentally needs to be looked at differently. While there are elements of paper Magic that this game should still stay true to as paper Magic is an excellent game, it also has the freedom to be different and unique. If you want the game to be more like paper Magic, that brings up an entirely different discussion for another thread. (PS: I just re-read your sentence saying “This may not be paper magic but it’s still supposed to be mtg and should still follow the baseline ideals of the game.” after I wrote this paragraph. I still think what I say holds true, but it seems we agree on that point.) To cap this one off though, paper Magic institutes a ban list and a restricted list that this game has yet to attempt to implement along with multiple formats. This game has Standard and Legacy. As we get more cards to make decks out of, there will likely need to be an evolution within this game to adapt to overwhelming powerful cards and combinations. Paper Magic did it by imposing the above changes and avenues. We will have to see how it plays out here.

3.) I do think that decks built around this set will have the opportunity to shine against other sets. The primary thing to keep in mind is that many of the builds that will be viable will require a number of the mythics. I don’t really see this set helping us churn out decks in the early going that will be good that rely on the use of some commons and uncommons. Given the notes about balancing changes, I likely see myself using green or blue for every type of deck to include cards like Rishkar’s Expertise, Omniscience, and/or the New Perspectives, Drake Haven, Shefnet Monitor cyclers. I envision most of my decks consisting of primarily older cards with some of the new ones to enable me to get the most out of the events and their objectives. That being said, I am excited to try out some of the new cards and see what I can make work with them. Will they be better than a green loop Kiora deck? No. Will they be better than a Hazoret’s chain? No. Will they be better than my current Omniscience decks? Not significantly (although I do see Tishana Voice of Thunder acting a weaker Standard version of Kozilek in an Omniscience deck). I do however expect the set to be fun to play with, as I really enjoy trying to put together tribal decks (especially in paper MTG), and I think the events will be particularly refreshing because they will add a new element to the game.

4.) My final thing for this post will be to say that I fully understand why many of the people who have commented about Ixalan are upset with the design of the set. Furthermore, I agree with a lot of what you said. I do however, think that this set will be fun, which is what I play this game for (and to win all of the time. I like winning), and I think that it will continue to pique my interest. I am excited for the set’s release and to finally have something to use my crystals on. I am excited to see how the game changes with the new events. Ultimately, I am trying to express that in spite all of the negativity that is flowing around the forums, that there are some potential positives that could make Ixalan a good addition to Puzzle Quest. Finally, I am interested to see what Oktagon’s response will be to the community feedback from this set.

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Well. You got me. Now I have to say I mostly agree with your response.
I agree that I can see playing some of these cards in my current decks for a little flavour and interest.

I also really hope that rivals brings some merit in the meta to the new mechanics being released.

O think that’s where my biggest disappointment comes from .

The idea of treating a creature buff as separate creatures for some of the new cards is great until you see it’s a 1/1.

Some of the cards have great potential, until you see a 30 plus mana cost. Or a 2 point damage for 16.

My real feeling is they over estimated the value of treasures to help balance the set cost.

First a secondary mechanic should never be the basis of mana fixing a set and secondly I don’t think they realize how little a gem match for an extra 3 mana if you can even hit it on your turn means.

I think the best idea I saw that would actually fix that particular mechanic was if you drop a second treasure of the same type and hit the buffed support it becomes 6 mana then 9 mana etc.

They also need to drop the support destruction wording on use for some fornthe new supports like aether vial.

Aether vial is an op card in paper that engines a lot of the meta decks. Turning it into a one use mana gain ruins the card completely.

The other idea I thought was fairly decent was to bring the overall mana cost down by 2 and increase the overall power by 1 to at least bring the set in line with origins.

I would actually like to hear your thoughts on a possible fix to the set that brings it a bit more in line for playability without over ramping it

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I want to point out that I have not said anything about the other sets being at the same level. Please don’t bunch me in with that. I genuinely like how the other sets were designed (except for Amonkhet). There are certain cards in those sets that when paired with certain cards from other sets become significantly more powerful than other options, but I am okay with that too. I think that more than balance changes, we could use either A.) A ban list of sorts for Legacy where players will not be able to pair certain cards, or B.) for them to give us more formats to play in apart from Standard and Legacy that are more like Extended was or in it’s earlier days, Modern. The only things I think that need tweaking are certain cycling cards. I think that New Perspectives should get the Baral treatment where it doesn’t give cards mana on draw but instead gives them mana each turn, Drake Haven should drain mana, and Faith of the Devoted should similarly drain mana. I would otherwise leave cycling as it is.

I also don’t personally think that other older cards need “balancing” if they come up with alternative measures to keep the game from turning into an ugly combofest of badness. Facing a turn one Hazoret’s Undying Fury into 4 Oath of Gatewatch copies is apparently terrible from what I hear. Some of the green/blue gem conversion decks can be a slog to play against, and Omniscience can ramp up pretty quickly too. Even with all of those decks in mind, I am still okay with them personally. I just wouldn’t want to have to face them in every event. I like that I only encounter them in Training Grounds and Trial of the Planes. I have ways around many of those decks that works for me and I have still yet to lose to any of the above decks, in part due to luck, and in part due to my skill in deckbuilding (I am not humble).